Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Well, not exactly quiet. A lot will be going on, but there will be no exhibitions scheduled for a couple of months. My summer exhibitor had to cancel for various reasons, leaving a hole in the schedule. Rather than fill the hole, I will be using the time and space to rest and spend time making my own art. I'm thinking of it as a trial run for my retirement! There will also be workmen around replacing windows!

What will I be doing? Well, any number of things. First I will be filling the empty walls ( No, they are not empty yet! Carolyn Halliday's show continues until July 12) with huge sheets of paper so I can make really BIG drawings! But mostly I will be working on a couple of sculptures and installations. I will continue to dye and spin wool...Some will be for sale here and in my ETSY shop. Some will be used in my artwork.

I will still keep Monday hours. The wool shop will be more open. It won't have to hide to prevent competition with the exhibitions.

Monday, June 20, 2011

After the summer hiatus, the gallery will reopen , as a gallery, in September for an exhibition by Jeff Rathermel, the executive director of Minnesota Center for Book Arts. At the end of his show, toward the end of October, the space will slide back into studio space for a bit.

A lingering question remains, however. Why retire?

When I opened Susan Hensel Gallery, I gave up a robust exhibition career( over 100 regional and national exhibitions, many collections, a museum or two...) in order to create a space for experimentation where unconventional artists could give voice to their ideas.I have worked hard and loved every moment of it. And I will miss the dailiness of it and the times I get to meet new people. So I am NOT closing entirely.

What will retirement look like in Susan Hensel Gallery?It is more a change of material state than a retirement.

In the fall of 2011, I will reduce the exhibition programming of the gallery to one or 2 shows per year. The windows and the yard will be available for installations. I will make a tremendous mess in the main gallery space, as it will become my studio and I am a tremendously messy artist.

In 2012, I will curate and exhibit Reader's Art 12.

Regardless, I will remain open on Mondays, for wool sales and the curiosity seekers.

The reception for My Father's Religion coincided with dulcet, balmy weather and the weekend of the Minnesota Quilt Conference. My friend Debra, an art quilter, had come from NYC to see the quilts.And a group of Korean art quilters were invited to exhibit at the convention. Their work was outstanding! And, they came to meet Carolyn at her reception. We ate cake for CR's birthday, drank wine, listened to live music next door at the Crown Cafe and generally had a wonderful evening!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

CarolynHalliday uses the vocabulary and skills of textiles to sculpt forms that often reference body and/or nature. She hand knits wire and other nontraditional materials into forms that often grow from simple elements of nature and life’s daily debris. With her work, she magnifies nature,and references concepts of the feminine through the female form and domesticity.

My Father’s Religion grew from her experience growing up with a father who loved the woods.Her father’s religion was in the woods. The family spent all of their free time in the Northern Woods. At the time Carolyn would have preferred to stay in a hotel. Nonetheless, her father passed his religion onto her.

My Father's Religion is an installation that explores the calligraphic nature of a knit line, pays homage to the sanctuary of the woods, and questions if art, as in the Byzantium, can transform life. This installation is laid out like a Byzantine church(cross shape)The reference to the Byzantine church comes from her fascination with the idea that the images created for the church, during the Byzantium, were allegedly so powerfully beautiful that they converted people toChristianity. Can art or the beauty of nature transform one today?

Friday, June 10, 2011

I have been attending the International Surface Design Conference today. It is wonderful and continues through Sunday, June 12, noon. I will open the gallery up as soon as I get home...sometime around 1pm...and remain open until 5pm for SDA latecomers.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

As long as I've known you (8 years?), you've been involved with ArtWear. How did that start?

Around 1996, when Minneapolis was hosting Convergence for the HGA, I was very involved (as a volunteer) with the art wear show. A woman named Kerry McDermot from Arizona, had 2 machine knit copper garments in the show. Something clicked for me and I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

I made my first wire vest because I wanted to wear it to an art opening of my sculptural work. People loved it, so I made a few more art wear pieces off and on, for art wear shows, and for some sales (not that they were ever big sellers, or I would have made more)

But you continue to make wire clothing...

My interest was in the sculptural end more than the fashion end. BUT, I'm very interested in the roles of women, domesticity, expectations of appearance, beauty---all those classic feminist issues----my own struggles of being taught I was never thin enough, pretty enough---so with my figurative work, I like to fold in those societal issues. Of course the choice of rigidly adhering to textile techniques, is a kind a way of wanting to emphasize or elevate "women's work". I intend to make garments that are sculptural, or sculpture, so all of my art wear I want to be displayed as sculpture as well as wearable. That being said, I think fashion is fun. It's fun to wear something unusual. It's a shame that it causes so much misery and over consumption.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Carolyn Halliday loves process. She emailed me last week about how much fun she was having in the studio, knitting trees, getting ready. Of course, that was before the usual pre-show panic that all of us artists experience....the sense of running out of time, the self doubt, the tired body, weird dreams.

The main exhibition is complete.The temporary hooks are removed, the lights are adjusted, the shadows are cast. This week, in the run-up to the Surface Design Conference visits on Thursday, Carolyn will be working on the window installation of silver trees.

And I will be ironing muslin to drape the table and the various distracting aspects of the studio. And, making ice for the hot days ahead.

Susan Hensel Gallery is open on Mondays, 10-5. Other days it is wise to call ahead and make an appointment.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

I've been inundated my whole life with nature; grew up in a family that spent all of our free time outdoors, camping, etc. All we ever talked about was what bird we had seen, or what might be blooming. I birthed a son who has been obsessed with nature since her was 8 months. So the natural world is a constant source of material and inspiration for my work. Now that I have 2 ecologists/biologists in my family----my son and his soon to be wife, I am actively collaborating with them on work. They inspired the work Druse, referencing the danger of zebra mussels as invasive species. (Made of knit wire with zebra mussel shells) And I am very currently working on pieces that reference Darwin. Part of the point of My Father's Religion, is the necessity of preserving woodlands.

Where does the title My Father's Religion come from?

My Father’s Religion grew from my experience growing up with a father who loved the woods. My father’s religion was in the woods. The family spent all of their free time in the Northern Woods. At the time I would have preferred to stay in a hotel. Nonetheless, my father passed his religion onto me.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Around 1996, when Minneapolis was hosting Convergence for the Hand weaver's Guild of America, I was very involved (as a volunteer) with the art wear show. A woman named Kerry McDermot from Arizona, had 2 machine knit copper garments in the show. Something clicked for me and I thought th

at was the coolest thing ever. I went into our basement in search of wire, found some florist wire, and knit a doll.

Dolls? Where did that lead?

So then I got intrigued with non traditional materials. Because I am frequently outside walking and grew up often in the woods, I started collecting stuff that might be used for knitting (tree roots) or was inspired by stuff to work into knitting (sticks, rocks). The tradition of basket making, and the range of materials being used in that textile medium, has influenced me. I also was intrigued with the challenging of shaping and knitting----for example--hmmm-how would I knit that vase shape; how would a make a knit box, etc. The transparency, shadow play,and rigidity of wire were all exciting explorations for me.

Somewhere in all of this, I moved away from the folk art sensibility into work that was increasingly conceptual. I was always seeking and learning and looking for the melding of textile and craft into the world of fine art---a split that continues to intrigue me.